Patrol program gets little interest

West Columbia seeks volunteers

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, January 9, 2003

Scott Booth's service station in West Columbia has been burglarized enough times that he's doing something to keep it from happening again.

Several times a week, he gets up in the middle of the night and drives past his business and other areas of the city looking for suspicious activity.

But while he keeps an active eye out, he has not signed up for the city's recently formed Citizens on Patrol program. Neither have most of the other 5,000 people who live there.

Some residents, like Booth, have found they do not have the time for the training mandated by the city to participate in the volunteer program. Others, city officials believe, may not know about the program to participate, and still others may just think the city is not crime-ridden enough to warrant such a volunteer patrol.

Whatever the case, the Citizens on Patrol program began signing up people about two months ago and has garnered only two acceptable volunteers.

Four people have signed up but one was deemed ineligible because of health problems and another was disqualified for having a criminal record.

"If people were actually concerned with crime, there would be more interested in the program. My personal opinion is we don't have a significant crime problem. That's positive," City Manager Roger Mumby said.

Some local business owners think otherwise. In fact, Booth went to a City Council meeting a few months ago with Tony Roy, owner of Tony's Small Engine Repair and Scott Leopold of Scott's BBQ & Catering, to address thefts at their businesses in West Columbia.

The men had complaints that police were not doing their job and wanted to know what City Council could do to curb the crime problem. That is when Citizens on Patrol was suggested, an idea that would incorporate volunteers from the community as liaisons with the police department.

Taking an eight-hour training course and completing 20 hours of ride-along time with an officer would make volunteers eligible to patrol the city. Participants would ride in pairs in their own vehicles with police department-issued cell phones to relay suspicious activity. They are not allowed to take any action on their own.

Booth said that rather than putting in the time needed for training to take part in the program, he and other owners are taking turns monitoring each other's stores at night.

The time it takes to train may be why others are not participating, Mumby said, but he added that the police department is willing to work around schedules and break up the training hours.

Applicants could do two hours of training for four days. As for the 20 hours of ride along time, it can be split up into four-hour shifts, Mumby said.

"We just want them to see what a police officer does when he's out," Mumby said.

Roy, whose business was burglarized several times last summer, said the police department needs to have more officers on patrol at night than during the day.

The officers must handle everything from traffic stops to building checks and residential calls, Meyer said.

The officers rotate schedules to cover day and night shifts. During "hot times," which are from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. and weekends, the department tries to have two or three patrols working.

When people complain about there not being enough officers on patrol, Meyer said it is not something the department can do much about, since City Council makes the decision on funding to hire more officers.

Meyer said the city does not have a severe crime problem. He said the Citizens on Patrol program is "mainly to get another set of eyes out there" and supplement what the officers do.

Mumby said the city would like at least people to take part in the program and probably would not be worth continuing if there is not more interest in it.

Applications for the program can be obtained at City Hall, the police department or online at www.westcolumbia.org.